All Articles: Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Most of the big publishers chose to skip the 2015 edition of PAX East and even those that did attend (like Nintendo and Microsoft) kept their most anticipated projects home. But that didn’t stop a wide variety of indie developers from setting up shop in the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center to wow the assembled masses. These developers set the tone for this year’s expo, which featured a heavy focus on games that attempted to reinterpret classic gameplay concepts for a new generation of players. And the crazy thing is that many of the developers hyping these games looked like they would have been in diapers the first time I fired up an SNES.

It was a welcome sight with the rest of the industry pivoting away from those types of games and towards a competition to see who can push the most polygons. So if you were a fan of gaming in the NES, Super NES, and Genesis days, this PAXpocalypse List is for you. Because these are the games we would have played over and over again if some horrible snow storm had trapped us inside the convention center beyond the last day of the expo. (more…)

The devil is in the details in this week’s PlayStation Store update. First up, the devil you know is DMC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition, which has been prettied up and remade for the PS4 by Capcom and Ninja Theory. Capcom got a lot of flak for giving DMC to an outside development team, but this re-release shows the publisher thinks the gaming community might have turned around on it in the last few years.

This week’s devil you don’t know is Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, Dennaton’s sequel to their 2012 top-down shooter. Everything in Hotline Miami 2 is bigger than its predecessor and it will mark the end of the Hotline Miami “Saga.” Hotline Miami 2 is part of Song’s Spring Fever promotion and it’s a Cross-Buy game on the PS3, PS4, and PS Vita. A slightly less distressing top-down game, the cute and cuddly Scram Kitty DX, is also available as a Cross-Buy game on the PS4 and PS Vita.

Finally this week, the third episode of Capcom’s Resident Evil Revelations 2 project, Judgment, is available to download on the PS3 and PS4. This time, “Claire and Moira search for a way into the Overseer’s tower.”

More details about these games (and a few more new releases) can be found after the break. A full rundown of this week’s new game add-ons and discounts can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

This Winter has been absolutely brutal for people all across the United States, but Sony wants to remind us that Spring is almost here with their announcement of a double-size Spring Fever promotion. Beginning March 3 (take that, Punxsutawney Phil!), the promotion will run for eight weeks and include some of the most anticipated PlayStation Store releases across the PS3, PS4, and Vita.

Helldivers, a top-down shooter for the PS3, PS4, and Vita, will kick things off on Tuesday and the whole thing will wrap up on April 21 with Shovel Knight‘s PS3/PS4/Vita debut. In between, gamers will get a chance to test out six more great titles (and PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive a 10% discount on each game during its launch week):

3/3 – Helldivers (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)

3/10 – Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)

3/17 – Jamestown Plus (PS4)

3/24 – Metal Slug 3 (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)

3/31 – Axiom Verge (PS4)

4/7 – Bastion (PS4)

4/14 – Titan Souls (PS4/PS Vita Cross-Buy)

4/21 – Shovel Knight (PS4/PS3/PS Vita Cross-Buy)

Bastion and Axiom Verge will also launch for the PS Vita at some future date. As with the other Spring Fever releases, both will be Cross-Buy compatible.

I’m not sure Sony understands how seasons work, especially after viewing this highlight reel of “Spring 2015” releases on the Vita. The mercury has dropped to 40 below in some places, and I’m watching a trailer that includes a game that launched yesterday (the monkey rhythm game Jungle Rumble), one that was released last week (movie tie-in SpongeBob HeroPants), and another that’s been available since January (Grim Fandango Remastered). Now, I’m no big city meteorologist, but I think I can safely say that those are all “Winter” releases.

That said, the short trailer does give us a nice glimpse at some of the upcoming Vita games that will populate the PlayStation Store over the next three months. They include JRPG Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines, surreal shooter Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, top-down squad shooter Helldivers, beloved retro side-scroller Shovel Knight, action RPG Toukiden: Kiwami, side-scrolling skateboarder OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood, and the Zelda-like Titan Souls.

Further said, this trailer isn’t just for portable players. Many of these titles will be offered up on the PS3 and/or PS4 as part of Sony’s Cross-Buy promotion.

As is customary nowadays, Sony showed a sizzle reel of indie games during their E3 Press Conference showcasing the following titles as PlayStation exclusives. All will be available for the PS4 and some will make the jump to the Vita:

Devolver Digital and Dennaton Games have announced that Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number will be available for the PC, Mac, and Linux in 2013. They sequel to last year’s fever dream will feature more action and unreal situations, this time with multiple playable characters:

You’re a murderer. You murder people. Again. And again. How certain you are of your actions and what is, and what is not, real is what you must determine in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. The epic finale to 2012’s blood-soaked hit follows an escalating level of violence through multiple factions born from the events of the original game – all within the confines of blistering combat, the unmistakable visual style, and another powerful and intense soundtrack that pushes you to the limit and forces you to question your own thirst for blood.

The publisher and developer have also released a mind-bending teaser trailer, which you can view above. If you dare.